Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Lin Feng's goal seemed to have completely enraged the Argentinians, who launched a fierce counterattack against the Chinese team in the following minutes.

In the 28th minute of the first half, the Chinese team lost possession in their own half but failed to pass the ball decisively, which led to a counter-pressing by the Argentine team.

In the midst of the chaos, Messi cleverly poked the ball to his teammate.

After receiving the ball, Rodriguez quickly passed it to the right. Higuain then took control of the ball and charged into the penalty area. Facing Wang Dalei's attack, his shot from a tight angle went slightly wide.

Argentina's counter-attack gave the Chinese team a real scare. After making the interception, the Chinese team had already been pushing forward, trying to replicate the attack that led to their previous goal.

Unexpectedly, they were dealt a blow by the opponent, especially Messi's aggressive counter-pressing, which surprised many people.

My impression is that Messi isn't particularly good at defense?

This impression isn't entirely wrong, because Messi's stamina is limited. In order to allow him to use all his limited stamina on offense, in Barcelona's tactics, Messi will not participate in defense most of the time, at most he will harass the opponent in the attacking third.

But that was at the club level; the situation with the Argentine national team is completely different.

Although Maradona valued Messi highly, he did not grant him the privilege of not participating in defense.

Moreover, Messi's sense of responsibility does not allow him to stand aside and completely shift the defensive burden to his teammates.

Although the ball didn't go in, Messi's aggressive counter-pressing still earned him a lot of applause from the fans in the stadium.

During this period, Messi's status within the Argentine team was actually much higher than after the South Africa World Cup.

Firstly, there were no doubts from Argentine fans after the World Cup defeat that he was putting in a lot of effort, being a superstar at the club level but mediocre at the national team level.

Secondly, although the team is not exactly united, it is obviously not as serious as the internal division in Argentina after the 10 World Cup, when Tevez rose to power and challenged his authority.

At this moment, Argentine fans are almost all dreaming that Messi, this talented young man, will replicate Maradona's script and lead the Argentine team to victory in the World Cup next year.

Therefore, they can tolerate Messi's many shortcomings, but when this dream is shattered, their patience will slowly run out.

The same applies to Lin Feng. If the Chinese team performs poorly in next year's World Cup, he will be subjected to a barrage of angry criticism from Chinese fans.

But Argentina is a traditional powerhouse and a strong favorite to win the championship, and its status is different from that of the Chinese team.

Therefore, Messi suffered a far greater backlash than Lin Feng.

As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.

As a superstar, one should bear the heaviest responsibility.

Argentina's attack became increasingly sharp, and even with China retreating to defend, they gradually found themselves unable to hold on.

In the 32nd minute, Zhao Xuri was forced to foul Messi while trying to stop him from dribbling past him, and was shown a yellow card by the referee. Argentina won a free kick on the left wing.

Messi and his teammates discussed the ball for a while, and finally Rodriguez made a feint to create space for Messi to cross the ball.

Neither Feng Xiaoting nor Higuain could reach the ball at the near post, and it fell to the far post, colliding with Zheng Zhi, who was standing on the edge of the six-yard box in the middle. Before Zheng Zhi could clear the ball, Gutierrez stretched out his foot and poked it into the goal.

The score became 1-1, and the Argentinians equalized.

The Argentinians excitedly began to celebrate; they had finally scored!

The first 30 minutes of the game almost drove them crazy with frustration!

Although the opponent was not strong, they were like a rock in a latrine—stinky and hard.

After conceding the goal, Wang Dalei helplessly shrugged at his teammates.

In this chaotic battle, coupled with his vision being blocked by his teammates, he simply couldn't perform well.

"mine!"

Zheng Zhi took the initiative to raise his hand and take responsibility for conceding the goal; he genuinely hadn't realized what was happening.

If I had reacted a little faster, I might not have lost the ball.

After the score was tied, the situation became very unfavorable for the Chinese team.

With high morale, the Argentine team launched an even more intense attack on the Chinese team in the last ten minutes of the first half.

In the 38th minute, Messi's breakthrough once again drew a foul from a Chinese player, giving Argentina another free kick in the attacking third.

Having seemingly tasted success, Messi intends to repeat the same tactic.

This time, however, the Chinese team was prepared. Sun Jihai, standing in the penalty area, cleanly and efficiently cleared the ball, even inadvertently triggering a Chinese counter-attack.

Unfortunately, Gao Lin's final shot went high, failing to capitalize on the counter-attack opportunity.

This counterattack shows that although the situation was very unfavorable for the Chinese team, they were not entirely without the ability to fight back.

They didn't just defend blindly; they were waiting for the right opportunity to counterattack. Once the opportunity arose, the Chinese team's attack was very decisive.

Time ticked by, and neither side managed to extend their lead.

At halftime, the two teams returned to the locker room with a score of 1-1.

As soon as they returned to the locker room, the Chinese team members collapsed into their seats, panting heavily.

The intensity of this match far exceeded that of the World Cup qualifiers played in Asia before. The national team players, who had not experienced such high-intensity matches for a long time, all felt somewhat uncomfortable.

In fact, the high intensity of the game, the large amount of exercise, and the intense physical confrontation are only one aspect that exacerbates the physical exertion. Facing opponents of this level, the Chinese national football team players must always be focused and on high alert, which will also greatly increase their physical exertion.

"Take this time and get some rest!"

Old Zhu could clearly see that the players were exhausted. When playing against a strong team of this caliber, the underdog must put in a lot more effort to keep up.

He was very satisfied with the result of the first half, but he was more worried about the second half.

At this rate of physical exertion, the Chinese team probably won't be able to hold on for long in the second half.

If the Chinese team runs out of energy and the opponent seizes the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, they may suffer a crushing defeat, just like in the World Cup years ago.

To his relief, it was a friendly match, not a World Cup final.

Exposing this problem early will give him ample time to deal with it.

As for the solution, it's actually quite simple.

That means continuing to play friendly matches against strong teams like Argentina. As long as the players gradually adapt to this high-intensity competition, they won't be caught off guard on the World Cup stage.

While the physiotherapists and team doctors were busy massaging the players, Zhu Guanghu took the tactics board and patiently explained the tactics for the second half to the players.

Overall, the Chinese team's defense was very successful in the first half.

Argentina failed to score from open play, their only goal coming from a set piece. However, China committed too many fouls; besides Zhao Xuri, Zheng Zhi, Feng Xiaoting, and Sun Xiang all received yellow cards.

This could pose a significant threat to the second half of the game. If any of these players receive another yellow card, the Chinese team, now down to ten men, will likely collapse.

"Be careful with their set pieces, pay attention to protecting the landing point, and don't give them a chance to contest the header!"

This Argentine team doesn't have any particularly tall players, so the main targets to guard are Higuain and the opponent's two center-backs.

However, it's impossible for all of the opposing center-backs to rush into the penalty area to attack, so the Chinese team's aerial defense pressure wasn't too great.

But be especially careful not to let the other side muddy the waters in the restricted area.

The Chinese team has already witnessed Argentina's ability to create chaos in battle.

Actually, Lao Zhu had some ideas in mind; he was thinking about whether he could use the opponent's set pieces to launch a counterattack.

When the opposing team takes a set piece, all their players will inevitably push forward, leaving the backfield very vulnerable.

If a fast player can receive the ball at this moment, the Chinese team can launch a very threatening counterattack.

However, placing a striker in the attacking third will inevitably arouse the opponent's vigilance and lead to targeted attacks.

Leaving aside how to accurately deliver the ball to the striker's feet, even if the striker gets the ball, how to quickly get rid of the opponent's entanglement is a big problem.

After all, not everyone has Lin Feng's ability to break free!

So how can we secretly plant this poisonous thorn without letting the other party discover our intentions?
The fifteen-minute break passed quickly, and the second half began with both sides switching sides to resume the game.

It's unclear what Maradona said to the Argentine players in the locker room during halftime.

After the start of the second half, the Argentine players went berserk, launching a frenzied attack on the Chinese team with shouts of excitement.

Even so, Maradona was still not satisfied. He stood on the sidelines, fuming and occasionally putting on an impromptu hand gesture.

In Maradona's view, if they can struggle so much against the Chinese team, how can they possibly win the championship?

These guys are clearly being lazy; they're not giving it their all in the game. He needs to really give them a boost!

Perhaps it was Maradona's encouragement that worked, as Argentina's attack soon paid off.

In the 53rd minute of the second half, Argentina extended their lead.

Messi's change of direction was tripped by a Chinese player. Rodriguez then played a free-kick tactic with Messi near the corner flag. Messi feinted and passed the ball back to Rodriguez, who then crossed it to the far post. A small, overlooked player suddenly burst out from outside the penalty area and headed the ball into the net from 7 meters out.

The score became 2-1, and Argentina finally took the lead.

This was a defensive blunder by the Chinese team; no one expected Ma Ge to be in that position.

After all, in Argentina's previous set pieces, he was always on the perimeter, rarely directly involved in the attack.

I don't know if it was a set-piece tactic specifically arranged by Maradona, but I have to say that Argentina's set-piece tactical combination just now was indeed quite brilliant.

On the sidelines, seeing his team complete the comeback, Maradona finally smiled.

He smiled and clapped, displaying the air of a big shot who had everything under control.

On the other side, Zhu Guanghu shook his head helplessly.

During halftime, he had reminded the players to pay attention to defending set pieces, but they still managed to score from a set piece.

The Chinese national football team conceded two goals from set pieces in the match, exposing weaknesses in their set-piece defense.

After falling behind, the Chinese team noticeably increased the number of players they committed to attacking.

In the 56th minute, Lin Feng's counter-attack forced the opponent to commit a tactical foul, winning a free kick for the Chinese team.

China had relatively few free kicks in the attacking third during this match, so Lin Feng didn't have a chance to showcase his skills.

Lin Feng is renowned for his free kicks. Since breaking Juninho's free kick record two years ago, he has become the most threatening free kick taker in football!

Argentinians had naturally heard of Lin Feng's prowess with free kicks, so when they saw Lin Feng standing in front of the ball, they couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Hmph, that ball is over 30 meters from the goal, I don't believe he can score!"

"That's right, no matter how good a free kick is, you can't just kick it like a penalty kick, especially a free kick from this far away!"

Some Argentine fans were clearly worried to death, but they were still stubbornly trying to cheer themselves up.

If they are really not worried about Lin Feng's free kicks, then why are there such loud boos coming from Monumental Stadium?
Lin Feng ignored the boos coming from the audience. He had experienced even louder boos in previous matches.

After setting up the ball, he took a deep breath and stepped back step by step, assuming the posture for a free throw.

The Argentine fans at the stadium became even more nervous upon seeing this.

Actually, Lin Feng didn't pose when he took free throws before, because he thought it was too flashy.

But at this moment, he felt that being a little high-profile might not be a bad thing.

Beep!
The referee blew his whistle, and Lin Feng began his run-up.

The steps he took resonated like drumbeats in the hearts of Argentine fans.

With a muffled thud, the ball was struck hard and flew into the sky at an extremely fast speed, like a cannonball.

The ball was so fast that the Argentine wall didn't even seem to have time to react.

Many people were noticeably a beat too slow in their jump!
Romero stared wide-eyed, trying to catch the ball's trajectory in the air in order to predict the direction of the opponent's shot.

But when Lin Feng threw the ball, he only felt as if something in the air left a blur, so fast that his naked eye couldn't catch it.

Romero was taken aback and, without thinking carefully, lunged out in the general direction.

He understood that if he didn't act immediately when faced with such a high-speed, heavy artillery barrage, there was no way he could catch it!

Romero's reaction time was already very fast, but the ball was much faster than he had imagined.

Romero, who was soaring into the air, felt as slow as a snail.

He stretched his arm to its limit, trying to touch the ball, but found that he was still far from it!

With a crisp whoosh, the ball bypassed Romero's hand and nestled into the net.

The crowd erupted in uproar. Tens of thousands of Argentine fans were stunned, their minds blank as they stared at the scene in disbelief.

The ball actually went in!?! (End of Chapter)